Busy summer

Summer is upon us and we are busy! As I looked over all the pictures I have since last time I blogged, I realized how behind I really am! Hopefully I will get some more pictures on here soon. But for now I wanted everyone to know we are still alive and well!
We have been gardening, (yes, I have a small garden! Yeah! The boys love watering it and watching for produce to be ready.) Swimming, playing, keeping up the house and a host of other things. The past few weeks were tough on Scott and I as we both lost a grandparent. Scott's grandpa passed away the end of May, and my maternal grandmother died mid-June. What a time to be grateful for family and the support of those you love. We were so glad we were able to see Scott's grandpa just a week before his passing.
My grandma had been in poor health for a long time, so we were thankful that her suffering is over and were able to rejoice in time with family together. (Yes, I did fly to NY for the funeral. Scott stayed with the older two boys and Philip and I were able to spend time with family. IT was a very precious time.)
Of course the end of June brought Scott's birthday and we enjoyed helping him celebrate- we are so grateful for such a wonderful husband and daddy! He loves Italian food and so I made manicotti for his "meal"- or as Paul renamed it- "man-in-potty". :)
The boys are growing and changing every day. Philip is beginning to walk all over and it will not be long before crawling is a thing of the past. The older boys love trying to help him.... and he is fairly patient with their efforts!

I will try to get more pictures up soon! Until then- we pray you are enjoying your summer and filling it with time spent for the kingdom! Cousins having fun- May 09

Spring boys

This spring has been a wonderful time to be outside. We have really enjoyed a lot of trips to the park, and of course working in the yard.(We have even planted a small miniature garden!) The boys keep us busy and we could not be near this happy with any other type of "busy" that there is. Their vocabularies keep growing and I get tickled all the time with the funny things they come up with to say.

Here are just a few.... :)

Paul- "Marcus, you are a curious boy"
"Mom are you going to put gorilla in that? Gorilla makes it soooo good!" (gorilla= vanilla)
"Mom....Mom......Mom....." (Mom)-"Yes Paul" "Mom..... oh, I lost my word :("
"Mom, I am so strusterated!" (Frustrated)

Marcus- "Sure sing!" = Sure thing! With a huge smile!
" Idea Mom"= Good idea Mom
"In a few weeks"= When I say not now to anything, he makes this logical assumption, in a few weeks!
"No treats mom, you peep in your underwear...." Can you tell we are potty training?:)

Our cowboys
Fun at the park

Yummy smoothies!

Yeah! We got the sandbox set up

Can you tell we got summer haircuts?

More park time.... never conventional

What a big boy!

Don't look Grandma!

Rolling down the hill

Please be in prayer for our family, particularly Scott over the next few weeks. This last week we made a quick trip to Chicago to visit his Grandpa. Grandpa had been feeling poorly, but after further testing the doctor says the cancer has spread through his body and he probably has only a few weeks left with us. Scott's Mom is taking a lot of time of work to be with him and we pray the the Lord will be merciful and he will not suffer too much. It is particularly hard for Scott to be so far from family in a time like this. Thanks for your prayers!

Picture post

Well, I am so behind on posting that I decided to just do a huge picture post... and try to catch you up on our lives! We have been enjoying a great spring with lots of visits with family and that has been great! The Lord has blessed us so richly and we are enjoying loving and living and laughing through each day he gives us! In March we headed to my folks for Mom's 50th birthday... and even pulled off a small surprise party!
The boys and I enjoyed 2 trips to zoos in March. First to Wichita with GG and Esther

Smile!

And the second trip to Omaha with the Ulmers and Grandma Sue

During Grandma Sue's visit we were surprised with a late spring snow... and went sledding!

I am still not sure she believes us when we say it was in the 70*s the week before! :)

Opps this picture will not turn :(

More snow! I think we got over a foot!

Guess how much I love you!

Philip crawls very well not and pulls up on everything. Paul can't wait to help him walk!

We enjoyed a quiet day celebrating our Lord's Resurrection. He's Alive!

An old Ulmer tradition... the breakfast lamb cake, made from banana bread, topped with whipped cream and strawberries.

Special place settings

Two excited boys!

Daddy reads the new books

Trying on their new shirts from Grandma Sue

Got to be goofy!

There is always room on Mama's lap for her boys!

All dressed up and ready for church..

So cute!

Playing fort/camp. The most popular thing right now. Setting up a fort or camp to eat food (blocks) and drink coffee, (where did they get that? Scott and I don't drink coffee!:) And chew cowboy gum. (Paul folds paper to look like gum wrappers and they pretend to eat gum all day. Now I really have to check his pockets in the wash though, they can have 20 "gum" wrappers stuck in each!)

Helping make supper...

Someone likes things spicy! :0

What a funny boy!

Smile!!!!

Dinning room update :)

Well... the dinning room is a lot closer to being done and I LOVE IT!!!!!! Scott and I had worked on it on and off for several weeks, and then we kind of hit slump and the poor room was neglected for a while. Esther helped me paint the ceiling and Scott put up the ceiling fan, but it would not have got done without some help.

I have learned so much from this project.

1) Remodeling is a lot more work than I thought and I believe everyone should do it at least once so they appreciate what it takes.

2) It really helps to have a wonderful sister and brother in law come help. The type that know how to do this work and make it look sooooo good! (Thanks a lot you guys!)

3) Starting one room makes you excited to finish the house!

The pictures do not do the room justice. It is so nice! We have some finishing up to do. The base board needs finishing and paint and the windows need the final coat of paint. But mostly done! Yeah!!!!

Above are the two new windows.
Although it looks like royal blue on the left, it is really a nice navy. The crown makes the room look so formal and elegant.

This picture is taken with the carpet ripped up and "quick swept", we did not even clean it yet, and look how nice it is!

The view from the living room.... remember how it used to look?!

Coming in from the kitchen. (the strange dots on the wall of on my camera, not the wall.)

yeah!!!!

Early spring

February turned out to be a very mild month here in cental Kansas. We enjoyed many days in the 60's and the boys loved spending more time outside. With all the extra time outside I was reminded of the Lord's wonderful plan in creating seasons. Although I generally dislike winter- it is a great time to do things indoors. Not just extra projects like sewing or painting. But regular stuff like laundry and dishes. It is not hard to be motivated to work indoors when it is 15* outside. :) However, with beautiful weather outside, do you know how hard it is to motivate a 3 year old to do the dishes? (Not to mention his mom!:) I suddenly remembered that during the summer I find it hard to acomplish ANYTHING inside! And if not for those days that the temps reach 100* and we hide in the air conditioning, we would probaby have no clean clothes or healthy food all summer long.

So while I eagerly await the warmer months and green grass and flowers, I am blessed again with a lesson in contentment as we still spend many days indoors. Indoors working, playing and learning- "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:...

And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God." Ecc. 3:1+13 Marucs enjoys petting the neighbor's cat

"Some back kitty!"

"I am ready Dad!"

(Great photo credits to Scott who was not only the pitcher but the camera man as well.)

Getting ready....

REACH!

My valentine's present... :)

Some women wish for flowers or chocolate... Or perhaps a nice dinner out. This year I got my valentine early. Since this fall I have started planning and looking at ideas for making this house more beautiful. We don't have the budget for huge projects, but every few months taking a room and subtracting some floral wallpaper from the home is a worthy goal. :) I was really content just planning and leaving the work to the "someday" category. Last week my spontaneous and sweet husband decided to make some plans reality. He loaded the family up and we headed to Salina and Lowes and Walmart. After shopping for an evening we headed home with the tools, equipment and paint to begin our transformation. Thank you my love for such a great gift!

The naked dining room- well, mostly :)

How old do you think that carpet is???
And why cover hardwood floors? (I guess we have some great faith that we do not pull up the carpet to find some huge reason that it was covered in the first place!)


We have great eager helpers!

What a silly boy!

There is a great smile!

Marcus loves spraying..... anything or anyone.

I love my boys!

Or just drinking the vinegar water..... what a nut

Unlike me who equates the smell of warm vinegar water and wallpaper paste with warm fuzzy childhood memories- Scott feels the only thing "warm and fuzzy' a quickly scraped wall. Which is saving us a lot of time. Because he was quick to look for easier ways to get the wallpaper off, we ended up with a borrowed wallpaper steamer. Some people like them, some don't, but it has worked great for us!

We are about half done with the wallpaper removal. We have two new windows to install, new light to hang, paint, trim and then the floor. We are excited! I will be sure to post pictures when it is all done. But for your sake... don't hold your breath, it may take a while! :)

The boys enjoy the temporary piano move and quickly made a fort.

Marcus turns 2!

Well February brought Marcus' second birthday- and although it was much anticipated by parents and and older brother, Marcus was not impressed. When asked "Is today your birthday?" he would respond- "NO"- "Do you want some cake?" - "NO"....... The poor guy did not know what a birthday was! By the end of the day he had decided it was a good thing though- and after a lot of work will tell you his age upon questioning. Well, actually he tells you he is 3 and then when you say "What???" he says- "Paul's 3, you (what he calls himself) 2." So cute!
For a boy who was not that excited- we ended up with a lot of pictures. Hope you enjoy them!

Birthday meal- anything with noodles (He LOVES pasta- he must get that from Aunt Esther! :)

and green beans.

A great snack treat from Papa and Nana!

Marcus LOVES fruit- but is not a big fan of other sweets. He has great self control and will often give me the last half of his cookie/cake/candy.

I decided on simple white cake with cool whip and strawberries. He loved the strawberries!

Fun candles!

Singing happy birthday

Blow out the candles!

Uhhhh... deer in the headlights

I love birthdays!

A big present from Mom and Dad -(and Papa and Nana, thanks!)

What is it?

Smile!

Look at the animals!

Look! A farm!

The boys love playing with their birthday toys and have started to play together well. What a blessing!

Opening a package from Grandma Sue

What is in here?

A fun game!

A new book!

Reading very carefully

Thanks Grandma Sue!!!

Redeming the time

"Being confident in this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" Phil. 1:6

"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." Gal. 6:9

Paul sat on the stairs with a small mountain of clean cloth diapers beside him. It is his job to fold them and put them away. I was folding a not so small mountain of clean clothes next to him and encouraging him along the way. But somehow, Paul kept goofing off and making his job harder by not following the simple directions I gave him. When I spoke firmly to him about finishing his work and not whining about the difficulty, he looked up at me and in a pleading voice said,

"But Mom, you need to train me."

Proverbs says, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (22:6) That promise motivates me on the days when all the boys seem to do is fight. It challenges me when I want to take the easy road and just put a movie on while I make supper. It encourages me when I hear my son ask for training. For although he does not realize it, he is learning to love listening to Mom and Dad. He values our opinions and wisdom. He needs our counsel. He wants our help. Some will say- "Enjoy it! It is over too soon, he will know everything before you know it. Then there is no need for Mom and Dad"

But I have seen the fruit of good training- I have experienced it. My parents were some of my best friends all through my growing up. I never hit that age when I did not need them. Sure, I wanted to decide things myself after a while, but I wanted their input and their counsel. I knew they had experiences that would help me.

I want that with our boys. Marcus is testing us a lot right now. I pray daily that I do not miss his small attempts to connect with Mom- because I am so busy disciplining his wrong behavior. I want him too- to desire to be trained.

Training- "This is the way we peel a cucumber", "Daddy goes to work for us so we can have a good warm home and good food to eat. He takes goooood care of us.", "No, we don't shoot people, we shoot deer and bears", "No son, we don't hit, now come to Mom...."

It happens if I want it to or not. When having a bad day I blamed my crying on being tired. Now when Paul is having a bad attitude, upon questioning he says- "No I am not pouting, I am just tired."

Please pray the the Lord will strengthen Scott and I to the great task before us. May we train in love and consistency. May we not grow weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap. We have little souls depending on us.

"Please train us"

Red, white and black
Red, white and black again

Red white and black original! :)

Busy month

January has been a busy month for us. It seemed that we were barely done with Christmas when I was looking at the calender and realizing we were a week into the new year! The Lord has blessed us with good health and we have been able to do some traveling- and hosting friends this month.

The 9th -14th made a trip back to Illinois to visit Scott's family. My family was very sweet and let us borrow their minivan- which made traveling a whole lot nicer. We had a great time with lots of fun memories. Scott asked that I try to get some home video while there, and I was able to catch a lot of great times with their cousins. However, since I was holding the video camera, I did not take hardly any regular pictures.... So I can't show you the wild pillow fights on the blog!

Once home, we were thrilled to have Charity stay with us for a few days. The boys love having any of their aunts or uncles with them and I enjoyed having a great helper around!

I also got a special treat when my friend Ruth was in the area for a day. It was great to have another adult to talk to- (Scott gets a little board with talking about recipes and sewing:) and I hope I did not talk her ear off! Thanks for coming Ruth!

Playing piano with Aunt Charity

Take care Ruth!

A gift from Grandma Sue- Bunk beds! (Or as Marcus calls them, "bunk-heads". He always hits his head on the ceiling when we help him on top and laughs and says "bunk-heads", like that is why they gave it the name.... so funny!)

Just chilling out....

See ya later alligator!